Georgius Agricola

Georg Agricola redirects here. For the Germanphysician and botanist, see Georg Andreas Agricola.

Georgius Agricola (/rkl/; 24 March 1494 21November 1555) was a GermanCatholic, scholar and sci-entist. Known as the father of mineralogy", he was bornat Glauchau in Saxony. His birth name wasGeorg Pawer(Bauer in modern German);[1] Agricola is the Latinizedversion of his name, by which he was known his entireadult life; Agricola and Bauer mean farmer in their re-spective languages. He is best known for his book De ReMetallica (1556).

1 Life and work

Gifted with a precocious intellect, Georg early threw him-self into the pursuit of the "new learning", with sucheect that at the age of 20, he was appointed Rectorextraordinarius of Greek at the so-called Great Schoolof Zwickau, and made his appearance as a writer onphilology. After two years, he gave up his appointment topursue his studies at Leipzig, where, as rector, he receivedthe support of the professor of classics, Peter Mosellanus(14931525), a celebrated humanist of the time, withwhom he had already been in correspondence. Here, healso devoted himself to the study of medicine, physics,and chemistry. After the death of Mosellanus, he wentto Italy from 1524 to 1526, where he took his doctorsdegree.He returned to Zwickau in 1527, and was chosen as townphysician at Joachimsthal, a centre of mining and smelt-ing works, his object being partly to ll in the gaps inthe art of healing, and partly to test what had been writ-ten about mineralogy by careful observation of ores andthe methods of their treatment. His thorough groundingin philology and philosophy had accustomed him to sys-tematic thinking, and this enabled him to construct out ofhis studies and observations of minerals a logical systemwhich he began to publish in 1528. Agricolas dialogueBermannus, sive de re metallica dialogus [Bermannus; ora dialogue on metallurgy], (1530) the rst attempt to re-duce to scientic order the knowledge won by practicalwork, brought Agricola into notice; it contained an ap-proving letter from Erasmus at the beginning of the book.In 1530, Prince Maurice of Saxony appointed himhistoriographer with an annual allowance, and he mi-grated to Chemnitz, the centre of the mining industry, to

widen the range of his observations. The citizens showedtheir appreciation of his learning by appointing him townphysician in 1533. In that year, he published a book aboutGreek and Roman weights and measures, De Mensuis etPonderibus.He was also elected burgomaster of Chemnitz. His popu-larity was, however, short-lived. Chemnitz was a violentcentre of the Protestant movement, while Agricola neverwavered in his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church;he was forced to resign his oce. He now lived apartfrom the contentious movements of the time, devotinghimself wholly to learning. His chief interest was stillin mineralogy, but he occupied himself also with med-ical, mathematical, theological and historical subjects,his chief historical work being the Dominatores Saxonicia prima origine ad hanc aetatem, published at Freiberg.In 1544, he published the De ortu et causis subterrane-orum, in which he laid the rst foundations of a physi-cal geology, and criticized the theories of the ancients.However, he maintained that a certain 'materia pinguisor 'fatty matter,' set into fermentation by heat, gave birthto fossil organic shapes, as opposed to fossil shells havingbelonged to living animals.[2] In 1545, he followed withthe De natura eorum quae euunt e terra; in 1546 the Deveteribus et novis metallis, a comprehensive account of thediscovery and occurrence of minerals and also more com-monly known as De Natura Fossilium; in 1548, the Deanimantibus subterraneis; and in the two following yearsa number of smaller works on the metals.

2 De re metallica

Main article: De re metallica

His most famous work, the De re metallica libri xii longremained a standard work, and marks its author as oneof the most accomplished chemists of his time. It waspublished the year after his death, in 1556, though appar-ently nished in 1550, since the dedication to the electorand his brother is dated 1550. The delay in publicationis thought to be due to the time necessary to completethe books many woodcuts. The work is a complete andsystematic treatise on mining and extractive metallurgy,illustrated with many ne and interesting woodcuts whichillustrate every conceivable process to extract ores fromthe ground and metal from the ore, and more besides.

1

2 2 DE RE METALLICA

De re metallica

He acknowledged his debt to ancient authors, such asPliny the Elder and Theophrastus. Until that time, Plinyswork Historia Naturalis was the main source of informa-tion on metals and mining techniques, and Agricola madenumerous references to the Roman encyclopedia.Agricola described and illustrated how ore veins occur inand on the ground, making the work an early contribu-tion to the developing science of geology. He describedprospecting for ore veins and surveying in great detail, aswell as washing the ores to collect the heavier valuableminerals, such as gold and tin.The work is also interesting for showing the many watermills used in mining, such as the machine for lifting menand material into and out of a mine shaft. Water millsfound innumerable applications, especially in crushingores to release the ne particles of gold and other heavyminerals, as well as working giant bellows to force air intothe conned spaces of underground workings.He described many mining methods which are now ob-solete, such as re-setting, which involved building resagainst hard rock faces. The hot rock was quenched withwater, and the thermal shock weakened it enough for easyremoval. It was very dangerous when used in under-ground galleries for the toxic gases given o by res, andit was made redundant by explosives.The work contains, in an appendix, the German equiva-lents for the technical terms used in the Latin text. Mod-

A water mill used for raising ore

Fire-setting underground

ern words that derive from the work include uorspar(from which was later named uorine) and bismuth.In another example, believing the black rock of theSchloberg at Stolpen to be the same as Pliny the Elder'sbasalt, Agricola applied this name to it, and thus orig-inated a petrological term which has been permanentlyincorporated in the vocabulary of science.

3De re metallica is considered a classic document ofRenaissance metallurgy, unsurpassed for two centuries.In 1912, theMining Magazine (London) published an En-glish translation. The translation was made by HerbertHoover, then an American mining engineer (betterknown to history for his later term as a President of theUnited States), and his wife Lou Henry Hoover.

3 Final daysIn spite of the early proof that Agricola had given of thetolerance of his own religious attitude, he was not suf-fered to end his days in peace. He remained to the end astaunch Catholic, though all Chemnitz had gone over tothe Lutheran creed, and it is said that his life was ended bya t of apoplexy brought on by a heated discussion with aProtestant divine. He died in Chemnitz on 21 November1555; so violent was the theological feeling against him,he was not allowed to be buried in the town to which hehad added such lustre. Amidst hostile demonstrations,he was carried to Zeitz, some 50 kilometers away, andburied there.

4 See also List of mineralogists Pliny the Elder Shen Kuo an 11th-century Chinese statesman who

wrote a theory of land formation involving mineral-ogy

Theophrastus Mineral collecting

5 References[1] http://www.georgius-agricola.de/leben.htm Agricola

Forschungszentrum Chemnitz

[2] Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, 1832, p.29

This article incorporates text from a publication nowin the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). CambridgeUniversity Press.

6 Further reading Carolyn Merchant (1980). The Death of Nature:Women, Ecology and the Scientic Revolution (SanFrancisco: HarperCollins).

Ralf Kern (2010). Wissenschaftliche Instrumente inihrer Zeit. Vol. 1. pp. 334336 (Cologne: Koenig).

7 External links De Re Metallica Weisstein, EricW.,Agricola, Georgius (14941555)

from ScienceWorld. Agricolas work on gemstones and mineralogy: De

Natura Fossilium, translated from Latin by MarkChance Bandy

Agricola Akademischer Verein, German traditionalFraternity, with the name of the famous scientist.

Agricolas De Re Metallica translated by formerPresident H. Hoover and his wife L.H. Hoover, fulltext (650 pages) and illustrations

George Agricola short article from the CatholicEncyclopedia, 1907

Wilsdorf, Helmut (1970). Agricola, Georgius.Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York:Charles Scribners Sons. pp. 7779. ISBN 0-684-10114-9. Digitized version.

Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolutionimages of works by and/or portraits of GeorgiusAgricola in .jpg and .ti format.

Works by Georgius Agricola at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Georgius Agricola at Internet

Archive (optimized for the non-Beta site)

4 8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses8.1 Text

Georgius Agricola Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgius%20Agricola?oldid=648296678 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Mal-colm Farmer, Olivier, Michael Hardy, Minesweeper, Ahoerstemeier, Stan Shebs, Den fjttrade ankan, JASpencer, Marc Tobias Wenzel,Charles Matthews, Gutsul, Phoebe, Kenatipo, Donreed, Saforrest, Jaan513, Gadum, ELApro, Vsmith, Shanes, Mdd, Arthena, Geo Swan,VivaEmilyDavies, Japanese Searobin, Postrach, FeanorStar7, Melds1, Ilario, JanSuchy, FlaBot, YurikBot, RobotE, Al Silonov, RussBot,Gaius Cornelius, Rsrikanth05, Moe Epsilon, Elizabeyth, Wames, Emijrp, Staelde, T. Anthony, SmackBot, Sebesta, Ingsoc, Mirokado,Bluebot, Hibernian, Sadads, Sbharris, Yelm, Mitrius, Dantadd, Peterlewis, Aleenf1, RandomCritic, Beetstra, Eewild, WeggeBot, Iokseng,Chicheley, Rocklaura, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, DPeterson, Dr. Blofeld, Hannes Eder, DuncanHill, .anacondabot, Acroterion, Bet-Bot, Gem-fanat, Johnbod, Plindenbaum, Germanangie, EcoRover, VolkovBot, Kelapstick, Rei-bot, Oxfordwang, TerraNova whatcanido-tomakethisnottoosimilartosomeothername, Ajrocke, Docclabo, PericlesofAthens, Lucasbfrbot, Monegasque, Masterpiece2000, Alexbot,Voltigeur, Addbot, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Bermicourt, Legobot, Lacomj, Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Xqbot, Gigemag76, JJMesserly, Omnipaedista, Chris.urs-o, Green Cardamom, FrescoBot, HAHAHAHATHATS4HAS, Jauhienij, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot,Juanita Saenz S, WikitanvirBot, ZroBot, Akasseb, RockMagnetist, ClueBot NG, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Carjoyg, ChrisGualtieri,Khazar2, Acetotyce, OccultZone, Vieque, UnfamiliarUsername and Anonymous: 55

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